Experiences? Opinions? Problems?

I have one in the shop to be worked on (bad trigger). I haven't tried it out of course but what's your question?

I used to own a 17-220 Swift in a Mexican. It functioned perfectly and didn't shoot too well.
Butch

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
I used to own a 17-220 Swift in a Mexican. It functioned perfectly and didn't shoot too well .
Butch

Butch, was that a typo?

No, that is a true story.
Butch

Got one in an 1891 Argentine small ring. All ready been down the road of "you can't use a .220 swift in a small ring" It shot 7.65x53mm for years with no set back issues and that was current Norma manufactured ammo and some 1978 mil surp.

Once the scope is mounted I'll tell you how it shoots. Got other projects going right now but the initial test firing went fine.

I will tell you this though, If I had it to do over again I'd go 22-250. Cases, dies, and factory ammo are a lot easier to find in 22-250. But noooooo I had to be different 100 FPS is not worth the hassle

Had one on a 98. adams and bennet barrel.I replaced the stock for one from midway.It shot good enough for me,but the 220 really did'nt impress me so I sold it to a friend. He swears by it for squirrels and coyotes.

Oh there's nothing better then seeing a jackrabbit explode when hit by one of these. Any of the ultra fast .22 are fun to shot varmint with. A 45 or 50 grain bullet doing 3800 FPS does it every time.

I have been down the hot .22 centerfire road, now I use the 243 Winchester with 55gr ballistic tip @ 3850fps with stellar accurracy(I can go hotter). With the 243 you have more choices on bullet weight than the hot 22's. When the wind is up I can switch to a heavier bullet like 70 or 80 grainers plus use it for larger game whenever/if necessary with 95/100gr bullets. My only .22 centerfire for varmints now, besides my AR's is an 1885 in .223 Remington.

Back in 1974 I was trying to learn a little gunsmithing with very limited funds. I bought a commercial Santa Barbra 98 Mauser action in the white at the Dallas gun show. Later I sent the action to Federal Firearms and had them fit a 24 inch Star brand sporter barrel in .220 Swift. I fitted it to an American walnut blank in classic style. I had an old German gunsmith in the area to rust blue it. He always used the old Belgium Blue sold by Herters. Later after saving up funds again I mounted a Redfield 3X9 Accutrac scope, similar to what the Marines used in Vietnam.

The gun was extremely accurate and it quickly became my go to rifle.

I lived in a part of Texas that was teeming with coyotes at that time. I killed a great number of them over the years. A few whitetails and one mule deer with the old Sisk Express bullets made for game.

Finally after a great number of rounds the throat washed out and it went from 1/2 minute of angle to 1 1/2. I pulled the barrel and sent it to Bob Snapp and had him rebore to 25 caliber. My thinking was part of the reason the barrel had been so accurate was the good metalurgy. When I got it back I chambered it to .257 Roberts improved. It turned out to be a 3/4 minute rifle with 100 grain Nosler BT or Partitions either one, it grouped the same and point of impact was the same. I refinished the stock and checkered it. By then I had access to hot blue tanks so I bead blasted and wire brushed it and hot blued it to simulate rust blue.

After which the first elevan shots fired at game were one shot kills.

I still have it, I will try to post a photo of it later.

Hey Bud, how are you?
Butch

Overall just curious. I have read some about the cartridge and some about a few conversions done on mausers for the caliber. I had a customer pose a rifle idea to me. He wants a mauser built in, possibly, .220 Swift. Something he can kill coyotes out to 200 yards with, along with groundhogs etc, but has less recoil than a .30-06.

Course, I can think of a million different solutions to that problem.

So I was just curious what people had to say about it.

I have built two on VZ 24 actions. Both shot better than MOA. I had no feeding problems. I prefer a push feed in the Swift because it is shot a lot as a single shot. I built one with a 1-8 twist barrel so it would shoot 80 grain bullets. I haven't shot it at 1000 yards, but you can keep the group under 4" at 700 yards....Tom

Nathaniel, one of my first conversions at TSJC involved a 220 Swift Mauser. I simply fabbed a couple of thin steel plates and welded them into the 98 mag box at a slant similar to the factory Win pre-64 Swift magazines. A slight slant is all that's needed and the mag box length is adequate. Pay attention to the way you load them into the magazine and everything will be copacetic. You'll need to shorten the follower slightly. It's a splendid conversion.
Regards, Joe

Butch, as you can see I am as long winded as ever and doing great. Drop by sometime.

Fal, I've shot coyotes with many differant calibers and witnessed the same by others. The .220 Swift by far is the best long range cartridge I know of for coyotes. Many one shot kills at the 300 to 400 yard bracket.

Fal
As per your customer criteria. A 22-250 would do the job if he's looking for a hot .22. Other then that. a few suggestions would be a .243, 257 roberts (not nearly as fast but a performer none the less) then a 257 wheatherby mag but just another throat burner.

top choice would be a 22-250 or as Woodrow mentioned a 243.

quote:

Experiences? Opinions? Problems?

I built a swift in a M-98 Mauser once.....it didn't shoot very well (probably something I did) but would never again build a swift in a CRF action!

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
I used to own a 17-220 Swift in a Mexican. It functioned perfectly and didn't shoot too well.
Butch

There is a moral here for all us forum readers.

The other extreme is a M-700 (or clone) that shot well but didn't function too well.

ONE RIFLE, OR ONE ACTION , OR ONE CALIBER WILL NOT/AND CAN NOT DO IT ALL.

I have a Savage 220 swift that is a single shot in stainless and it shoots 1/2 at 100 yds. Used it on dog's did a heck of a job at 500 yards.( by range finder)

I have one on a 98 I built a couple years ago...lightweight CM bbl. Shoots ok....

Bill Morrison built my neighbor Mike one from scratch on a VZ-24. He buttoned the bbl 12 twist, hardly any taper... and put a supertargetspot scope on it. Old school. Shoots tiny groups, as everything Bill makes.

I finished a VZ-24 yesterday in 22-250, with a Shilen stainless barrel and walnut stock. Haven't grouped it yet, but it feeds fine also. Originally Mike wanted a 22-250. Bill, after cussing at him for an hour, refused to build it.

The 220 swift/22-250 have always been the ford/Chevy of the 22's. And opinions run strong. Now, with Lapua 22-250 brass, there would be no question for my preference.

Ben

Another splendid chambering is the 22-243 Middlestead. More velocity plus tight-neck capability with a wider choice of parent brass.
Regards, Joe

Not my choice of caliber, but a friend wanted a 220 Swift. So I barreled him up a 98 action with a bull barrel and Stalked it. Everything seems to work great, and prints very small groups. I told him not to hot rod it when he reloads for it, and maybe it will keep shooting great for many years to come.

Did you catch it when you were stalking it?
Butch

I don't think he did Butch..........it was too Swift. Sorry, couldn't resist

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
Did you catch it when you were stalking it?
Butch

I was wondering the same thing!

better to lose it stalking rather than get a run and ruin a pair... or lose a garter snap.

Heavens, the prospects simply chill the blood.

quote:

Originally posted by Fal Grunt:
He wants a mauser built in, possibly, .220 Swift. Something he can kill coyotes out to 200 yards with, along with groundhogs etc, but has less recoil than a .30-06.

220 Swift is a great round, Dad has one in a Pre-64 Model 70 that's on at least it's second barrel and shoots lights out to 350 (as far as we've tried it). If it's a LR Mauser and he's only shooting to 200 yards, the Swift sounds like overkill. To make it a little more fun and versatile, I'd go with a 257 Roberts to keep with the original cartridge length or open up a little and go with a 25-06.

I have no room to talk about rational, have a Mexican Mauser converted to a single shot in .223, but I'm becoming less original in my old age.

I built a 220 swift on a 1909 Argentine Mauser, with a Douglas #3, 1-8 twist stainless barrel. Its one of the slickest feedeing Mausers I own. No feed rail mods or magazine mods.Shoots 55gr Nosler ball.tips into half inch groups at 3850fps. 80gr amaxs at 3250 shoot half inch groups. 70gr txs at 3400 also shoots half inch groups! It has been very user friendly and I couldnt be happier! Just the other day I busted a 1gal milk jug at 800yds with the 80gr amax load. It has turned out to be one of my most succeseful rifle projects and I highly recommend it!

I had two mausers in 220 Swift. One was an FN, possibly a JC Higgins or a Colt????

The other I built on a 1909 Argentine with an FN Swift magazine box. It had a #2-24" Douglas Stainless 1:14. It shot very well. Both fed without incident as I had the proper magazine box in them.